Galaxy S3 (Verizon)

[JGoosey52]

I am about to upgrade to this phone from a Droid X, is anyone with verizon that would like to provide some input and their thoughts on the phone. Also if you root and install roms that would be appreciated as well

 

[NikolaeVarius]

It's one of the best phones on the market.

Rom's are in the works. Bootloader is currently mostly a non issue. Root is easy. Currently on a Stock Rom until CM10 development is more mature

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I have it, and I think it's exceptional. But it's my first smartphone and I have no intention of rooting it, so I can't offer opinions in that area. I was initially fine with the default keyboard but now the predictive text is just annoying me to the point where I think I'll get Swiftkey or Swype. S Voice is useless but that's a small issue.

 

[RockinZ28]

Love it, really nothing I've found to complain about once rooted with SynergyROM. Battery life is more than enough for me, runs everything smoothly, and the display res and size are awesome. Those are the biggest improvements over my Tbolt.

Supposed to be getting a Sprint GNexus from work next week, will see how it compares.

 

[Zaap]

Love mine and I also upgraded from a Droid X on Verizon. Well worth the upgrade. Screen is just beautiful and it runs fantastic.

Rooting: I've heard its easy, but so far I haven't felt the need. Stock runs perfectly fast. I read on XDA that freezing all the Verizon bloat can cause problems, and the recommend was not to do much you couldn't already do unrooted- which makes me wonder what's the point then? I've just hidden all the VZW crap with Nova Launcher.

ROMS: no idea. Again, I don't feel the need. I'm very happy with ICS. I'll probably be proven wrong, but I'm confident that even dumbass Verizon will get off their ass and update such a popular model to Jellybean eventually.

 

[JGoosey52]

Thank you all for your input! Reading reviews and such I was excited, and I really don't care to use S Voice and all that because I think it's stupid (IMO it takes just enough effort to push the calendar button than to push a talk button and wait for it to bring up your calendar). I was just hoping verizon didn't lock the bootloader and all that because I am a big modder. But more than likely I will run with stock until a custom rom catches my eye. But thanks again!

 

[JGoosey52]

Sickest phone ever

 

[chin311]

I kinda am tempted to try and switch from my 4S to this, I haven't had a droid since I sold my X to switch back to iOS. I guess I'll wait on what the 5 looks like and go from there. I get bored easily lol

 

[Demo24]

I have it, and I think it's exceptional. But it's my first smartphone and I have no intention of rooting it, so I can't offer opinions in that area. I was initially fine with the default keyboard but now the predictive text is just annoying me to the point where I think I'll get Swiftkey or Swype. S Voice is useless but that's a small issue.

Default android or default Samsung keyboard? I know someone with this phone and didn't like the Samsung one and had to go download and install the android 4.0 one.

 

[Aquila76]

Overall, I love it but I had to swap mine out to get one that worked properly on wifi and LTE. I had a launch one, but it had a glitchy radio which seems not too uncommon. Most in the stores now are on a newer baseband (VRLG1) which hasn't been OTA'd to the rest of us early-adopters (most launch phones have VRLF2).

 

[Krazy4Real]

It's a great phone. I love it so far. Stock Samsung keyboard kinda sucks though.

 

[JGoosey52]

I kinda am tempted to try and switch from my 4S to this, I haven't had a droid since I sold my X to switch back to iOS. I guess I'll wait on what the 5 looks like and go from there. I get bored easily lol

Definitely try this out, from what I've seen it's a solid phone. I got 11 hours of battery life out the box with the power saving mode on right when i turned the phone on.

It's a great phone. I love it so far. Stock Samsung keyboard kinda sucks though.

and yeah, I hated the predictive texting but it's gotten better to type with and the keyboard messes me up some times. I might try either the regular android 4.0 or something else soon.

Also, does anyone know if you *228 and try and update the phone, if it takes 4gLTE away? I seem to have lost it after i did

 

[NoStateofMind]

Sickest phone ever

Just left Sprint using iPhone 4s to the Verizon GS3. I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised at how much better Android has gotten (last one was GS2 Sprint). It used to lock up and require a reboot every so often but this guy hasn't needed any hard boots or troubleshooting so far. Honestly don't miss my iPhone. The screen is great as long as you don't try to use it it direct sunlight. Apps is where they could use some improvement. For example. The Sunday Ticket app doesn't show full screen. It will play on a quarter of the screen while the rest is blank. This is where Apple sets itself apart. They wouldn't allow this type of thing. Overall I wouldn't/won't be going back. I really like this phone. As to the ROM's and rooting I have no experience in that and honestly have no desire for it.

EDIT: Speak of the devil. First app lock up and reboot.

 

[rise]

rooted, synergy 1.3 rom, swype beta keyboard. Love it. Awesome phone. Coming from a 4" I was a bit concerned about the size but now I hold my old fascinate that I gave to my son and wonder how I used it for so long, lol.

 

[JGoosey52]

rooted, synergy 1.3 rom, swype beta keyboard. Love it. Awesome phone. Coming from a 4" I was a bit concerned about the size but now I hold my old fascinate that I gave to my son and wonder how I used it for so long, lol.

did you use this method to root or is there something different?
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/30687-tutorial-how-to-root-your-vzw-galaxy-s-iii-more-romscwmstock/

 

[rise]

Yes, that's what I used. Since then, this came out.

 

[JGoosey52]

Yes, that's what I used. Since then, this came out.

Thank you

 

[KentState]

The Sunday Ticket app doesn't show full screen. It will play on a quarter of the screen while the rest is blank.

I haven't had this issue with Sunday Ticket on previous Android phones. Is this something specific to the S3?

 

[JGoosey52]

I haven't had this issue with Sunday Ticket on previous Android phones. Is this something specific to the S3?

I just downloaded it (i dont have an account though) it looks like everything fills the screen. If video size is bad it could because the app isn't optimized to work on this screen, or maybe it's an HD feed like on tv where you would get the black bars on the side. I have no experience, just stating an outside opinion

 

[grkM3]

I came from a nexus running jelly bean and hated the s3 to the point of going back to the nexus.

Its a huge upgrade over the x but its not even close to how smooth a pure bread nexus runs on jellybean.

You will hate the keyboard and I suggest downloading jelly bean keyboard from the market and use that instead and the browser locks up with Facebook and a few other apps seem to run laggy and you will get a forced close here and there

You can root it with ease but there is basically no 3rd party support yet since it has the locked boot loader.

You can get around it with a double boot hack and run custom Kern els but there is nothing out there that is even good enough for a daily driver yet.

I go back and forth from my s3 and nexus and I'm typing this now on my s3 running cm10 and have been waiting weeks for an update.

3g is slower than dial up and 4g is almost as fast as normal 3g on this build and I can't receive any MMS texts and the cell can't detect its number along with a bunch of apps that don't work right or don't work at all.

Not even tube works right.

 

[JGoosey52]

I came from a nexus running jelly bean and hated the s3 to the point of going back to the nexus.

Its a huge upgrade over the x but its not even close to how smooth a pure bread nexus runs on jellybean.

You will hate the keyboard and I suggest downloading jelly bean keyboard from the market and use that instead and the browser locks up with Facebook and a few other apps seem to run laggy and you will get a forced close here and there

You can root it with ease but there is basically no 3rd party support yet since it has the locked boot loader.

You can get around it with a double boot hack and run custom Kern els but there is nothing out there that is even good enough for a daily driver yet.

I go back and forth from my s3 and nexus and I'm typing this now on my s3 running cm10 and have been waiting weeks for an update.

3g is slower than dial up and 4g is almost as fast as normal 3g on this build and I can't receive any MMS texts and the cell can't detect its number along with a bunch of apps that don't work right or don't work at all.

Not even tube works right.

well damn haha

 

[grkM3]

If you use an upgrade you will lose your unlimited data.

I paid full retail for my s3 and if you want to keep the data plan I would grab an s3 off craigslist vs paying 300 on an upgrade

 

[JGoosey52]

If you use an upgrade you will lose your unlimited data.

I paid full retail for my s3 and if you want to keep the data plan I would grab an s3 off craigslist vs paying 300 on an upgrade

I never had unlimited in the first place, yeah it sucks to lose something like that but i'm mostly on wifi anyway and I have never even come close to 1GB. Yes it would be useful if you're a business person and constantly checking things everywhere you go but I'm a college football player haha, not much time for much and I'm usually in places with wifi

 

[grkM3]

I never had unlimited in the first place, yeah it sucks to lose something like that but i'm mostly on wifi anyway and I have never even come close to 1GB. Yes it would be useful if you're a business person and constantly checking things everywhere you go but I'm a college football player haha, not much time for much and I'm usually in places with wifi

Go for it bro.

I would root it right off the bat and run beans build 6 ROM its the best ROM out for it now.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Definitely try this out, from what I've seen it's a solid phone. I got 11 hours of battery life out the box with the power saving mode on right when i turned the phone on.



and yeah, I hated the predictive texting but it's gotten better to type with and the keyboard messes me up some times. I might try either the regular android 4.0 or something else soon.

Also, does anyone know if you *228 and try and update the phone, if it takes 4gLTE away? I seem to have lost it after i did

From XDA

If your previous phone was only capable of 3G - remember we had to dial *228 to activate it or update our PRL? Well, DO NOT dial this on a 4G phone. Constantly dialing *228 on our Galaxy S3s has the potential to fry the SIM cards rendering our phones useless. With 4G phones, the PRL is automatically pushed to the phone via the SIM card and should be given periodic updates by Verizon.